Chapter Five: Family Reunion.
Edward smiled at her and moved over next to her, wrapping his arm around her, watching as she pulled out of the forest. He took a quick look back towards meadow and smiled, being reminded of the day. He put a hand on her lap and looked at her and smiled. He quickly looked to the road, hoping not to distract her. Her reflexes weren't as fast as his, and she would probably get them stuck in a ditch if he distracted her. Charlie would make sure he was kicked out of the country by that point.
She glanced at him, but only for a moment, her eyes swiftly moving back to the road. She could feel the coldness of his skin even through the denim of her jeans as he rested his hand on her leg. She decided to test her ponderings, driving slower than they had on the way to the meadow. She couldn't help but keep the smile off her lips, not only because of her actions, but because of the memories of the perfect day they had just shared. Just the two of them, it'd been too long. Let Emmett say what he wanted, he could come out with as many innuendos as he wished. None of it mattered.
Edward watch the speedometer drop slowly. He sighed and rested his head on Bella's shoulder and looked up at her.
"Bella, dear, can you please hurry up? I hate to move my foot slowly towards the gas now, forcing you to go faster." he said, slowly shifting his foot towards the pedal, smirking as he did. She smiled but sped up slightly, 'So not long at all.'
"I know you're probably doing this to torture me, but think about it, its just taking you longer to go see Alice and everyone else." he said, looking out the window now, still moving his foot closer to the pedal. Maybe she would hurry up a tad now. She laughed as she thought this to herself as she pressed down the gas pedal and accelerated slightly.
"I was just testing a theory." She grinned, once again quickly glancing round at him. As they sped up she focused on the road, she couldn't wait 'til they reached Edwards house. Edward grinned and lifted his head from her shoulder, leaving his arm around her still. He pulled his foot away as well.
"Thank you Bella." he said, watching the forest pass. She shook her head slightly as he thanked her, but continued driving along. Edward listen carefully now, trying to hear his family, to see if they were hunting after coming back home, or had they still been waiting for them. He knew Jasper needed to go hunting, hopefully Alice took him. He did not want another gift incident. His eyes watched the road again, seeing the turn off to the house up ahead.
Her smile changed into a grin as she spotted the turn off to the Cullens home. She turned into the long driveway, glancing around at the green on both sides of them, her eyes resting on Edward for another moment. After all the temperature had dropped considerably.
"Here we are." She smiled at Edward as the truck stopped outside the house and turned off the engine. Edward quickly removed his arm and opened his door and rushed to Bella's before she had the chance to open it for herself. He guessed she probably wouldn't of tried opening the door now. Just because she knew he would get there first now.
"You know, I am perfectly capable of opening a door on my own." She sighed as he opened her door for her, but she smiled at him.
The voices started running in Edward head, hearing almost all their excited voices, Esme and Alice's were over them all of course. "Act naturally! We don't want them to know we've been waiting for them!" Esme said in a hush tone. "Esme, Edward has heard us by now, there no point hiding it." said Emmett, typical. "Now come on Emmett, Bella can't hear us! We can at least do this for her!" Esme said quietly.
Edward smiled Bella's crooked smile, laughing on the inside at his family. "They are waiting for us." he said, offering his hand for her.
"Of course they are." She sighed, taking his hand, not exactly relishing the attention she usually received form Edwards family, but she loved them all too much to stay away.
She looked up at him, a smile on her face. "We best not keep them waiting then, eh?" Edward smiled and nodded. It felt like the first time he had brought Bella to his house. He wrapped his arm around hers and walked her to the house. He heard Esme last words to hush the family up and he smiled. She was meant to be a mother. He opened the door a held it open for Bella. He smiled at Bella and then looked into the house, seeing his family trying to look like a regular family, some of them in the living room watching TV, others reading.
"Bella!" shrieked Esme and Alice and rushed over to her, arms open. Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie and Carlisle followed behind them, Edward's brothers and father smiling at the two of them, showing them that things would be back to normal now.
She grinned as she heard the united shrieks. She opened her arms and hugged Alice and Esme tightly, well as tightly as she could manage without being able to breathe, they were hugging her back a bit too tightly.
"Hey Alice, Esme!" She managed to greet them as they released her. Looking beyond them Bella smiled at Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle.
"It's great to see you all again." Her eyes fell on Rosalie for the first time since entering the house, her smile didn't falter. She knew how sorry Rose had been about the mix up which had resulted in Edward taking a trip to Italy.
Alice smiled and hugged her, well, pretty much her sister. "Bella! I've missed you! I'm sure you had a great day." She said, smiling at Edward. He smiled back at her and as Esme released her hug he reached out and wrapped a arm around Bella's waist, hugging her closer.
"I missed you too Alice." She smiled at the short pixie-like girl who she already considered a sister.
"Yeah, it must of been pretty good if it took you this long to get here. What did you do Edward? Dazzle her again?" Emmett grinned at Bella, being the big brother per usual. Edward was glad to see how his family welcomed back Bella so easily.
As Emmett spoke Bella rolled her eyes, "Something like that." She smirked at the large, muscley boy before her.
"Won't Charlie be worried Edward?" though Carlisle. Edward looked at his father and shook his head. He tilted it towards Bella, without speaking. Carlisle nodded, knowing exactly what was going on and smiled at Bella. Edward grinned at kissed the top of Bella's head. Noticing Carlisle nodding slightly towards Edward she realised she'd missed a conversation, but it didn't bother her just now. Esme smiled at her family.
"Why don't we all go sit down?" she suggested, waving her arm to the living room. Motherly and the perfect hostess, as always.
It all felt so normal as she followed Esme's suggestion, gently releasing herself from Edwards grip with a smile as she took his hand and headed into the spacious, bright living room. The brightness still amazed her slightly, not that she expected dungeons, coffins and moats anymore, well, she'd never expected the moats to be honest. He gave her hand a squeeze as Esme suggested that he play piano. Although Rosalie did as well, he had been around much longer then she had, and he also had his own songs. He led Bella over to the baby grand piano and sat down.
"What do you want to hear?" he asked her, looking up at her face. Smiling as she settled herself beside him on the piano bench, Bella thought for a moment before answering his question.
"Esme's favorite." She smiled. Her answer was as much for herself as Esme, she knew she'd been monopolizing Edwards time recently, and felt slightly bad about it. But she loved that song almost as much as her lullaby. She loved hearing him play, because he enjoyed it. Edward smiled as he put his hands on the keys to play Esme's favorite song. He started to play as Bella put her head on his shoulder. He smiled and turned to kiss the top of her head, his eyes not leaving the music. He played it through twice, and hearing Esme sigh and Carlisle chuckle from the kitchen. They family had ended up all in their couples and had left for their separate rooms. He placed his hands on the piano again, and played their prom song.
"Ugh! Prom." she sighed Edward laughed at her remark and kept playing. Bella remembered how she'd practically been forced to endure that night. Well, endure might've been too strong a word in the end. It had been a beautiful night . The one that Edward would soon not forget as one of the nicest nights he had. With Bella. He whisper-sung the lyrics to Bella as he played, smiling at her the whole time. Bella's smile becoming slightly wider as she moved her head closer to him, her lips lightly kissing his neck once before she settled back into her original position. Her head resting on his cool, solid shoulder. As soon as that song was finished, his hands moved about the piano, and began her Lullaby. He grinned and rested his head on her beautiful brown hair. She smiled, as her lullaby reached her ears. She closed her eyes, listening, not only to the music, but to each of his breaths, her own breaths and her heartbeat. She smiled again, looking into his eyes as he turned to her ear.
"Welcome home my love." he whispered in her ear, playing her lullaby a few times through.
"Now that's something I could get used to hearing." She grinned at him, her eyes shining with her joy, her lips finding his as she kissed him tenderly. Edward smiled as she kissed him. He kissed her back, the music stopping abruptly, putting his hand through her long hair, rubbing her head gently. She let herself get lost in the moment as he kissed her back, her hands running through his hair holding him closer to her. He placed his other hand on her leg, rubbing it gently as he continued to kiss her. He stopped at few minutes later and looked at the time. She sighed and rolled her eyes slightly as he broke away.
"We should really go back to your house." he said, standing up, offer his hand to her again. She took it instantly.
"We can pick things back up after Charlie flips at you. Blame me, he already hates me." he said showing her the time. The clock read 10:53.
"Charlie doesn't hate you. He just passionately dislikes you." She grinned at him, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
"Do we really..." she trailed off as she glanced at the clock, "We really should go." She agreed, standing up. Edward grinned as he watched her change her mind after looking at the clock.
"Like I said, we can pick this up after Charlie flips at you." he said, pulling her towards the door.
"Say good-bye everyone!" he shouted, smiling at her as they heard a flurry of good-byes from around the house. Alice, Jasper, Carlisle and Esme actually came to say good bye, but Rosalie and Emmett had disappeared. No surprise there. Bella said her goodbye's promising to return as soon as she could before turning and walking out of the door.
Edward waved good bye to the family and grabbed Bella's keys and grinned at her as he ran to the truck, opening the passenger side for her. Walking out of the door, she rolled her eyes as she noticed which door Edward held open for her.
"Just don't kill my truck, ok?" She sighed climbing into the passenger seat. Edward grinned and nodded, closing the door and was right next to her in the drivers seat in a moments time. Of course he was going to drive, but she was still allowed to wish that he didn't have to. He made the engine roar and pulled out of the driveway to head back to Forks.
But now her mind had settled on what to do about Charlie. He was going to go completely mental. He already didn't like Edward after the Phoenix fiasco, followed by him leaving, and then her disappearing for three days without a word to go get him. Oh well, she'd survive. After some time, they made it to the end of the street. Edward listened carefully for Charlie's thoughts.
"He's pissed, and worried. More worried then pissed." he explained as he pulled in front of the house. He leaned in and kissed her lips.
"I'll see you in a moment." he whispered, passing her the keys and heading into the forest. As soon as she was in, he would make his way back up to her room.
"If I survive." She muttered as she took the keys and watch him vanish into the forest.
She took a deep breath before heading for the house. Pushing open the door she listened for a moment, no TV. Uh-oh.
"Uh, Dad, I'm home." She called, walking slightly further into the house. She didn't even make it into the living room before Charlie appeared in the doorway. then began the onslaught of questions and the lecture about responsibility. It all ended in a grounding. Not a surprise, and she didn't complain, she just apologized for making him worry so much.
Eventually she managed to say "Goodnight dad." And headed up to her room. She stepped inside her room, and closed the door quickly, leaning against it and exhaling for the first time in what seemed like forever. She glanced around the room, sure he would be waiting for her, unless....no. Those thoughts had to stop.
Authors Notes: Atl east Bella didn't die. Charlie could of done worst.